ICT news

• OpenAI Launches Codex, an AI Coding Agent, In ChatGPT

  16-05-2025 23:30 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  OpenAI has launched Codex, a powerful AI coding agent in ChatGPT that autonomously handles tasks like writing features, fixing bugs, and testing code in a cloud-based environment. TechCrunch reports: Codex is powered by codex-1, a version of the company's o3 AI reasoning model optimized for software engineering tasks. OpenAI says codex-1 produces "cleaner" code than o3, adheres more precisely to instructions, and will iteratively run tests on its code until passing results are achieved.The Codex
  
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• Meta Argues Enshittification Isn't Real

  16-05-2025 22:50 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Meta thinks there's no reason to carry on with its defense after the Federal Trade Commission closed its monopoly case, and the company has moved to end the trial early by claiming that the FTC utterly failed to prove its case. "The FTC has no proof that Meta has monopoly power," Meta's motion for judgment (PDF) filed Thursday said, "and therefore the court should rule in favor of Meta." According to Meta, the FTC failed to show evidence tha
  
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• Verizon Secures FCC Approval for $9.6 Billion Frontier Acquisition

  16-05-2025 22:02 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  The Federal Communications Commission has approved Verizon's $9.6 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications, valuing the Dallas-based company at $20 billion including debt. The approval comes after Verizon agreed to scale back diversity initiatives to comply with Trump administration policies.
  FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who previously threatened to block mergers over DEI practices, praised the deal for its potential to "unleash billions in new infrastructure builds" and "accelerate the tran
  
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• Charter To Buy Cox For $21.9 Billion Amid Escalating War With Wireless

  16-05-2025 21:22 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Charter Communications announced a $21.9 billion deal Friday to acquire Cox Communications, combining two major cable providers as they face mounting competition from wireless carriers offering 5G home internet. The transaction merges Charter's 31.4 million customers with Cox's 6.3 million, creating a larger entity to defend against aggressive expansion from Verizon and T-Mobile.
  Charter lost 60,000 internet customers in the March quarter, underscoring the industry's vulnerability as traditional
  
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• Covid-19 Spikes in Hong Kong, Singapore as New Wave Spreads

  16-05-2025 20:42 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Health authorities in densely-populated Hong Kong and Singapore have warned that Covid-19 cases are spiking, as a resurgent wave spreads through Asia. Bloomberg: The virus' activity in Hong Kong is now "quite high," Albert Au, head of the Communicable Disease Branch of the city's Center for Health Protection, told local media this week. The percentage of respiratory samples testing Covid-positive in Hong Kong recently reached its highest in a year.
  Severe cases -- including deaths -- also reache
  
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• Data Shows Boys and Young Men Are Falling Behind

  16-05-2025 19:50 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Boys and young men in the United States are experiencing declining outcomes in education, mental health, and transition to adulthood compared to their female counterparts, according to comprehensive data analyzed by researchers. High school graduation rates for boys stand at 83% versus 89% for girls, while college enrollment of recent male high school graduates has barely increased to 57% from 54% in 1960, compared to women's surge to 66% from 38% in the same period.
  Mental health indicators sho
  
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• Apple Denies Blocking 'Fortnite' From EU Stores in Epic Dispute

  16-05-2025 19:20 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple and Epic Games sparred over whether the iPhone maker was obstructing access to the hit game Fortnite, the latest tussle in a long-running feud over Apple's control of game distribution revenue. From a report: The game developer said that Apple "blocked" its latest Fortnite app submission so that it can't be released in the US or on the third-party Epic Games Store in the EU.
  "Now, sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it," the company wrote on its X account.
  
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• MIT Says It No Longer Stands Behind Student's AI Research Paper

  16-05-2025 18:40 via science.slashdot.org
  
  MIT said Friday it can no longer stand behind a widely circulated paper on AI written by a doctoral student in its economics program. The paper said that the introduction of an AI tool in a materials-science lab led to gains in new discoveries, but had more ambiguous effects on the scientists who used it. WSJ: MIT didn't name the student in its statement Friday, but it did name the paper. That paper, by Aidan Toner-Rodgers, was covered by The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets. In a pre
  
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• Vision Pro Owners Face Weight of Buyer's Remorse

  16-05-2025 18:00 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Early adopters of Apple's $3,500 Vision Pro mixed-reality headset report widespread disappointment a year after its February 2024 launch, with many devices now unused due to physical discomfort and social awkwardness, according to customers who spoke with WSJ.
  "It's just collecting dust," said Dustin Fox, a Virginia realtor who has used his headset only four times in the past year. "It's way too heavy. I can't wear it for more than 20 or 30 minutes without it hurting my neck." Customers told the
  
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• Broadcom Employee Data Stolen By Ransomware Crooks Following Hit on Payroll Provider

  16-05-2025 17:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Broadcom employees have had their personal data compromised following a September 2024 ransomware attack on Business Systems House (BSH), a Middle Eastern subsidiary of payroll company ADP.
  The breach, claimed by the Russian-speaking El Dorado ransomware group, wasn't fully identified until December when stolen data appeared online, according to The Register. Broadcom only received details of affected employees on May 12, 2025. Compromised information potentially includes national ID numbers, fi
  
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• Montana Becomes First State To Close the Law Enforcement Data Broker Loophole

  16-05-2025 16:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Montana has enacted SB 282, becoming the first state to prohibit law enforcement from purchasing personal data they would otherwise need a warrant to obtain. The landmark legislation closes what privacy advocates call the "data broker loophole," which previously allowed police to buy geolocation data, electronic communications, and other sensitive information from third-party vendors without judicial oversight.
  The new law specifically restricts government access to precise geolocation data, com
  
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• Clean Energy Just Put China's CO2 Emissions Into Reverse For First Time

  16-05-2025 16:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  For the first time, the growth in China's clean power generation has caused the nation's carbon dioxide emissions to fall despite rapid power demand growth. From a report:The new analysis for Carbon Brief shows that China's emissions were down 1.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 and by 1% in the latest 12 months. Electricity supply from new wind, solar and nuclear capacity was enough to cut coal-power output even as demand surged, whereas previous falls were due to weak growth.
  The an
  
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• US, UAE Unveil Plan For New 5GW AI Campus In Abu Dhabi

  16-05-2025 15:00 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Patently Apple: It's being reported in the Gulf region that a new 5GW UAE-US AI Campus in Abu Dhabi was unveiled on Thursday at Qasr Al Watan in the presence of President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and US. President Donald Trump, who is on a state visit to the UAE. The new AI campus -- the largest of its kind outside the United States -- will host US hyperscalers and large enterprises, enabling them to leverage regional compute resour
  
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• China Launches First of 2,800 Satellites For AI Space Computing Constellation

  16-05-2025 12:00 via science.slashdot.org
  China launched 12 satellites on Wednesday as part of the âoeThree-Body Computing Constellation,â the worldâ(TM)s first dedicated orbital computing network led by ADA Space and Zhejiang Lab. SpaceNews reports: A Long March 2D rocket lifted off at 12:12 a.m. Eastern (0412 UTC) May 14 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. Insulation tiles fell away from the payload fairing as the rocket climbed into a clear blue sky above the spaceport. The China Aerospace Scien
  
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• Dark Matter Formed When Fast Particles Slowed Down and Got Heavy, New Theory Says

  16-05-2025 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Dartmouth researchers propose that dark matter originated from massless, light-like particles in the early universe that rapidly condensed into massive particles through a spin-based interaction. Phys.Org reports: [T]he study authors write that their theory is distinct because it can be tested using existing observational data. The extremely low-energy particles they suggest make up dark matter would have a unique signature on the cosmic microwave background, or CMB, the leftover radiation from
  
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• Student Demands Tuition Refund After Catching Professor Using ChatGPT

  16-05-2025 07:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  A Northeastern University student demanded her tuition money back after discovering her business professor was secretly using AI to create course materials. Ella Stapleton, who graduated this year, grew suspicious when she noticed telltale signs of AI generation in her professor's lecture notes, including a stray ChatGPT citation in the bibliography, recurring typos matching machine outputs, and images showing figures with extra limbs.
  "He's telling us not to use it, and then he's using it himse
  
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• Do You Trust Mark Zuckerberg To Solve Your Loneliness With an 'AI Friend'?

  16-05-2025 05:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares an opinion piece from The Guardian, written by columnist Emma Brockes: Mark Zuckerberg has gone on a promotional tour to talk up the potential of AI in human relationships. I know; listening to Zuck on friendship is a bit like taking business advice from Bernie Madoff or lessons in sportsmanship from Tonya Harding. But at recent tech conferences and on podcasts, Zuck has been saying he has seen the future and it's one in which the world's "loneliness epidemic" is allev
  
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• YouTube Crackdowns on AI-Generated Fake Movie Trailers

  16-05-2025 03:25 via news.slashdot.org
  
  YouTube has suspended ad revenue for two additional channels -- Screen Trailers and Royal Trailer -- as part of an ongoing effort to combat fake movie trailers using AI-generated content. These channels, alternative accounts of previously demonetized Screen Culture and KH Studio, splice actual movie footage with AI-generated material, often accumulating millions of views.
  The action follows a recent Deadline investigation revealing Hollywood studios had requested YouTube redirect revenue from th
  
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• Apple Keeps Fortnite in App Store Limbo

  16-05-2025 02:41 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said Thursday that Apple has "neither accepted nor rejected" Fortnite's second App Store submission, potentially delaying the game's major update planned for Friday.
  Epic initially submitted Fortnite on May 9 following Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers' order for Apple to comply with the original 2021 injunction. After five days without response, Epic withdrew and resubmitted to accommodate the upcoming update. While Apple's guidelines state 90% of submissions are reviewed
  
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• FBI: US Officials Targeted In Voice Deepfake Attacks Since April

  16-05-2025 02:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The FBI has issued a warning that cybercriminals have started using AI-generated voice deepfakes in phishing attacks impersonating senior U.S. officials. These attacks, involving smishing and vishing tactics, aim to compromise personal accounts and contacts for further social engineering and financial fraud. BleepingComputer reports: "Since April 2025, malicious actors have impersonated senior U.S. officials to target individuals, many of whom are current or former senior U.S. federal or state g
  
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• Microsoft May Have Killed the Surface Laptop Studio

  16-05-2025 01:20 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft has stopped production of the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and will mark it as end-of-life in June, with no successor currently planned. Tom's Hardware reports: The Surface Laptop Studio 2 is being put out to pasture quietly, much like other devices that the company has sunset. The Surface Studio, a desktop PC that folded down into a creative studio for drawing, was formally discontinued in December without a successor. Microsoft's audio products, the Surface Headphones 2 and Surface Earbud
  
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• Netflix Will Show Generative AI Ads Midway Through Streams In 2026

  16-05-2025 00:40 via slashdot.org
  
  At its second annual Upfront 2025 event yesterday, Netflix announced that it has created interactive mid-roll ads and pause ads that incorporate generative AI. These new ad formats are expected to roll out in 2026. Ars Technica reports: "[Netflix] members pay as much attention to midroll ads as they do to the shows and movies themselves," Amy Reinhard, president of advertising at Netflix, said. Netflix started testing pause ads in July 2024, per The Verge. Speaking to advertisers, Reinhard claim
  
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• Anthropic's Lawyer Forced To Apologize After Claude Hallucinated Legal Citation

  16-05-2025 00:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: A lawyer representing Anthropic admitted to using an erroneous citation created by the company's Claude AI chatbot in its ongoing legal battle with music publishers, according to a filing made in a Northern California court on Thursday. Claude hallucinated the citation with "an inaccurate title and inaccurate authors," Anthropic says in the filing, first reported by Bloomberg. Anthropic's lawyers explain that their "manual citation check" did
  
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